Man pleads not guilty in TTC bus killing

Crown, defence agree accused should be found not criminally responsible

- BETSY POWELL

Just after noon on June 17, 2022, nursing student Nyima Dolma settled into a window seat on a TTC bus at Kipling station, en route to her part-time job as an adult-care worker, when a man with a history of paranoid delusions started speaking to her.

They were strangers to each other.

Tenzin Norbu began rummaging through a black bag, pulled out a Mason jar filled with lighter fluid and doused the front of her shirt with the liquid. After two attempts with a lighter, Norbu set the young woman ablaze. The flames almost reached across the aisle to where another passenger was sitting.

On Monday, in a courtroom filled with Dolma's grief-stricken friends and relatives, Norbu pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder due to mental illness. Both Crown and defence agree Norbu should be found not criminally responsible.

The shocking attack was one of many violent incidents on public transit in 2022, the escalation prompting calls on officials to do more to keep travellers safe. Some of the incidents were unprovoked, such as this case. After she caught fire, Dolma, 28, ran from the bus pleading for help.